22:63 Hast thou not seen that God sends down water from heaven, and then the earth becomes green?
The purport of this verse and the verses that follow is to remind of the blessings and to manifest the wisdom of creating benefits for creation. Whatever He created, He created as is worthy of Himself and as it should be created. Whatever He put, He put in its own place. Whatever He gave, He gave to its own folk. He is powerful who does whatever He wants. And He is the wise who does not do whatever He can. In this world, He created even the foot of an ant and the wing of a gnat in keeping with the requirement of power, the requisite of wisdom, and according to His will. He gave wisdom and power to each other’s hands so that the work of the Divinity would go forth well ordered. If wisdom had not been with power, the universe would have been disrupted.
God has attributes that are the antagonists of the existence and acts of the creatures. These are the attributes of exaltedness, tremendousness, compulsion, magnificence, and endless unneediness. He also has attributes that are the interceders for the existence and acts of the creatures, like wisdom, mercy, gentleness, clemency, munificence, and generosity. The attributes of mercy and wisdom hold back the reins of the attributes of exaltedness and unneediness so that this handful of hapless creatures may live out their lives in the shadow of gentleness and mercy in accordance with wisdom. Were it not for these interceders, everything—from the Throne and the Footstool down to the ant’s foot and the gnat’s wing—would become nothing and nonexistent. One word of the beginningless unneediness and independence showed itself to this world, and the day of deprivation came forth for the unbelievers and the estranged. Like strangers, they set their heads to their own thoughts and did not recognize God’s measure or gain access to what is worthy of Him. They set up a helpless, inanimate idol without attributes as His partner, worshiping it and taking it as a friend, such that the Exalted Lord said of them,
22:73 Feeble are the seeker and the sought!
22:74 They measured not God with the rightful due of His measure. Surely God is strong, exalted.
Wāsiṭī said, “Creatures do not recognize the rightful due of His measure—only the Real.” No one knows His measure save He. No one can recognize Him as is worthy of Him save He. Intellects are confounded and understandings bewildered at the beginnings of the shining of His majesty. Prophets and messengers came back on the feet of incapacity from the threshold of the reality of recognizing Him.
22:77 O you who have faith, bow and prostrate and worship your Lord!
In respect of understanding, the Pir of the Tariqah said in the tongue of allusion, “He commanded the faithful to bowing and prostrating. In saying ‘and worship your Lord,’ He means ‘Put up with trials in the religion and this world since God has placed you among the folk of service and provided you with the sweetness of the taste of being chosen by Him.’” He is saying, “If the trials of the passing days and the tribulation of this world are made into a draft and placed in the hand of your incapacity, do not make a sour face. Carry a load of tribulation with spirit and heart. Drink the draft in gratitude for the fact that He has commanded you to His service and kept you in the presence of prayer and the station of secret whispering.”
Take care not to lay favors on Him with your obedience and worship. Know that in reality, all the acts of obedience and worship, the good deeds and words, of Adam’s children from the beginning of existence to the end of the era, placed next to the divine perfection and beauty, are nothing but the noise of an old woman’s spindle. Had He in His generosity and bounty not invited this handful of dust to the threshold of His eternity and, with His gentleness, spread out the carpet of bold expansiveness in the house of guidance, how could this woebegone of existence, this speck of impure dust, have the gall to take a step on the edge of the carpet of kings?
